Chapter 14 - First Dungeon Trip (2)

The situation escalated quickly.

One person had just died at my hand, and the assailants were now in a position where they had to reorganize their formation.

“Young Master!!”

Choi Ho-joong took advantage of the confusion to break out of the four-man encirclement and ran to me.

“Are you alright?”

“Of course. It would be strange not to be alright against rabble like these, wouldn't it?”

“That's a relief. From now on, I will defend you like a fortress!”

“You should have done that from the start. It was fortunate these guys were clumsy; if they had been proper assassins, we would have been in big trouble.”

“I apologize!”

Hearing my words, the masked rabble began to emit an even stronger killing intent.

Well, it wasn't like I said anything wrong.

“Why? You seem to have a problem with what I said?”

But the guys were still silent.

A mute concept, what a peculiar concept they've chosen.

Anyway, by absorbing the Mana Rune, my combat power had risen a little more.

Compared to my previous mana, it felt about 20 percent larger.

Now I could send at least one more guy to the afterlife.

If I took them down one by one, maybe even two.

If I was prepared to faint from exhaustion, even three was possible.

“Ho-joong, we need to keep two of the remaining four alive. We need to drag them away and interrogate them.”

“Understood, Young Master. I will definitely find out which bastard orchestrated this madness!”

In truth, the situation had become quite difficult for those masked guys.

In an instant, five had become four, making it ambiguous how to divide their forces.

If they sent only one person at me again, they could become three in an instant, and splitting into two groups of two to mark Choi Ho-joong would also carry a significant risk.

Moreover, with Choi Ho-joong sticking right by my side, attacking my neck had become much more difficult.

“I knew it from the moment you came wearing masks. If you were 100 percent sure you could eliminate me, there would have been no reason to cover your faces. Am I wrong?”

I said, taking a step towards them.

Choi Ho-joong flinched for a moment and immediately stuck to my side.

“And you’d better hurry. Time is not on your side.”

In a few minutes, the dungeon would disappear, and we would be back out in the world.

After that, anything that happened would most likely leave a trace.

They were surely aware of that, so they had to be getting impatient.

“Attack!”

Finally, the leader of the masked men shouted.

That impatience would induce mistakes and create openings.

And quickly finding such openings was one of my 4,885 specialties.

The disorganized formation of four shot towards us, and the battle finally began.

Clang! Clang!

As expected, the skills of these guys were nothing special.

It seemed they thought they didn't need experts since I was the target, but if they were going to do the job properly, they should have sent proper guys.

Seeing them make such a mistake that would lead them to be traced, it was clear they were worthless rabble from one of the Haewon Sword Family's branch families.

Clang! Clang!

As the exchanges increased, a sense of urgency became more apparent in their swords.

Choi Ho-joong served as my excellent shield, so the battle flowed without difficulty.

I found the weakest point in the masked men's joint attack formation and thrust my sword, attacking and defending simultaneously.

Stab!

Before long, my Reapersword pierced the neck of one of the masked men.

A death groan echoed, and the numbers were now 3 to 2.

The masked men could no longer rely on their numerical advantage, and the momentum had completely shifted.

Realizing this, the masked men stopped their swords and stepped back.

“There are three left, right? I'm thinking of killing one and dragging two away for some interrogation. Any volunteers, raise your hand.”

To be honest, it probably wouldn't make much difference whether they chose death or life.

The two who survived would be living a life that wasn't really living.

“By the way, are you going to keep up that mute act? I'm not that easy-going, so just give it up. I’ll ask again. Who wants to die and who wants to live? I'm taking the first two.”

I twirled the Reapersword, creating an atmosphere of fear.

Once just one of them decided, the rest would be very easy.

“A-Are you really going to let us live?”

Finally, a traitor appeared. And it was even the guy who looked like the leader.

“What, so you can speak. Alright, I'll let you live. Now, first come, first served, one person.”

As soon as my words ended, the two guys shouted simultaneously.

“Save me!”

“Save me!”

I knew it.

It didn't suit such worthless rabble to be tight-lipped.

Since they all volunteered to become traitors themselves, the interrogation would proceed smoothly, and now all I had to do was find out which bastard had plotted this.

“But what to do. It seems everyone wants to live, but I don't need three.”

“Young Master, then I will randomly take care of one of them.”

In reality, two or three, it didn't matter.

“Then let’s do this. I still have one dungeon reward I haven't opened. If a Mana Stone comes out of it, only two will live, and if something else comes out, all three will live.”

“Young Master. Isn't that just another way of saying only two will live?”

“You always have to be a wet blanket, don't you, Choi Ho-joong.”

“Hey! A Mana Rune already dropped, it would be greedy to wish for more.”

That was true, but a person's heart wasn't like that.

Since something good had come out, it was natural to hope that it would continue.

“You two over there. Pray that something good comes out. Who knows?”

I reached into my inventory without delay.

For a moment, I felt a different texture.

It wasn't the feel of a Mana Stone, nor was it the feel of when the Mana Rune had appeared.

As I pulled my hand out, Choi Ho-joong immediately shouted.

“Young Master! That's an Abyss Rune!”

Like the Mana Rune, it was a bound item, and it was an item needed to enter a specific area of the Abyss.

“Does this mean the whole 3-piece set came out?”

“No way! How from an E-rank dungeon!”

“Ho-joong, then tie up all three and drag them to the family estate.”

“Yes, Young Master!”

And so, my first dungeon trip came to an end.

***

Of the five masked rabble, the two who died vanished like the wind along with the dungeon.

I interrogated the remaining three and obtained information.

The facts obtained through cross-verification all pointed to one truth.

“Seo Young-joon? The same guy whose teeth I knocked out at the Spring of Elixir, right?”

“That's right, Young Master.”

I knew it back then, but he was a pathetic guy.

To try and resolve the grudge from being beaten by me in this way.

In fact, I had anticipated that the person who orchestrated this would be of this level.

If it had been my father’s brothers, a more elaborate and dangerous situation would have unfolded.

“Seo Young-joon, he’s completely crazy.”

“Indeed! How dare he solicit murder against you, Young Master!”

“That too, but for someone targeting a successor of the main family, it was so sloppy. The level of the guys he sent was also pathetic. Don't you think? If I were Seo Young-joon, I would have cleanly disposed of him so no stories would get out.”

“…How can you say such a thing so calmly. Anyway, we should report this to the family head right away, right?”

Choi Ho-joong looked ready to run to my father at that very moment.

“No. Let it sit for now.”

“What? This is solicitation of murder! According to family law, it wouldn’t be enough to chop off his head right away, and you want to let it sit!”

“At best, we’d just be getting rid of one Seo Young-joon.”

In fact, at first, I also thought about punishing Seo Young-joon as an example, just as Choi Ho-joong said, but I changed my mind.

Seeing as he sent worthless rabble as assassins, this was most likely Seo Young-joon’s solo act. I thought it would be a waste to end it with just him.

“Young Master, what on earth are you thinking?”

“You said my father's brothers are the type to rebel against our main family, right? Then we should catch the mastermind.”

“W-What a dangerous thing to say…”

“I’m going to try and do some fishing with Seo Young-joon as bait. Who knows? Maybe I’ll catch a big one.”

At my words, Choi Ho-joong’s eyes wavered.

“Let's use the assassins we caught to set a trap. I'll set the whole stage, so you just do as you're told.”

“You're joking, right? Please tell me you're joking!”

I grinned and shook my head.

“This could become something beyond our ability to handle!”

“There's no such thing for me.”

During my Johan Raven days, I could wipe a small country off the map if I set my mind to it.

Let alone a single branch of a sword family, even in my current miserable state, I could handle it.

If worst comes to worst, I could borrow some of the power my father possesses.

“Young Master.”

Seeing my determined gaze, Choi Ho-joong seemed to have finally made up his mind.

This was the reason I had decided to make this guy my right-hand man for life.

Choi Ho-joong no longer argued with my words.

“Two of the guys we caught are brothers, right? Educate them well and release just one.”

“In what way should they be educated?”

“Make it so that this story reaches not Seo Young-joon, but Seo Chang-woo. Naturally, create a story where our side doesn't suspect Seo Young-joon yet.”

Seo Chang-woo was Seo Young-joon’s father.

When he found out that his own son had plotted such a stupid thing and failed, he would take action in some way.

I planned to observe how they would react and find a way from there.

“Will they really fall for it?”

“We've thrown the bait, so we just have to wait. If they don’t take it, I'll secretly take care of Seo Young-joon myself. Of course, that’s not the best option.”

“Lately, I've started to think that you are scary, Young Master.”

“I really like that kind of compliment.”

Well then, it's about time I went to the Abyss again.

I need to recover my body as quickly as possible, so I can't afford to waste even a single day.

“I’m going to the Abyss alone today, so you should do some personal training too.”

“That seems a bit dangerous…”

“Do you really think it’s dangerous? Is dealing with goblins while going back and forth to the spring really a dangerous thing for me?”

It certainly was a dangerous thing not long ago.

In fact, it was an unimaginable situation.

My body was so trashy that I couldn't even do light exercise, let alone hunt.

“W-Well, no, but.”

“You’ll have to train too if you want to properly escort me in the future. As I always say, you're still far from it. It's hard to believe you've held a sword for 16 years. So while I'm gone, go swing your sword in the training hall.”

“Still, how can I let you go alone, Young Master.”

“Oh, and about the equipment in the fitness room. Replace them with ones a level higher. So I can use them right after I get back from the Abyss.”

I couldn't neglect weightlifting either.

I still lacked muscle, and my body wasn't yet optimized for wielding a sword.

24 hours in a day was far from enough for me.